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Halloween Nostalgia: Movies & Television (Kid Friendly)

Halloween, like any holiday, can invoke many happy and nostalgic memories. For me, one of the best parts about the month of October was (and still is) all of the movies and TV shows. I was a ’90’s baby so most of the ones that are nostalgic for me are from that time. I thought it would be fun to tell you about them in no certain order. All of these are family friendly.

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocuswas released in 1993. It’s about a teenage boy, Max Dennison, who moves with his family from Los Angeles, California to Salem, Massachusetts. He meets a girl he likes, Allison. Soon after, he takes his younger sister, Dani, out trick or treating and stops by Allison’s house. The three go to the closed down museum, which was the house of the Sanderson sisters. The town legend says that the sisters were witches and if a virgin lights the black candle that’s in the house on Halloween night the three witches will come back to life. Max doesn’t believe in the legend so he lights the candle….

I’m assuming every one has seen this movie because it’s a classic but I won’t spoil it just in case. If you haven’t seen it GO WATCH IT! It’s one of the best Halloween movies.

Halloweentown & Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge

Right under Hocus Pocus, for me, is Halloweentownand Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge. There was also two more sequels after the second movie but I didn’t like those as much and the fourth one had different actors. The first movie begins with Marnie Piper, her mom, Gwen and two younger siblings, Dylan and Sophie. The children want to go to costume parties but Gwen won’t allow them to and won’t give a clear reason. Soon after, Gwen’s mother, Aggie, shows up for her annual Halloween visit. She wants her grandchildren to be able to celebrate Halloween freely. What the children don’t know, and what Gwen doesn’t want to know, is that they’re all witches. Aggie lives in a place called Halloweentown and wants to begin training Marnie as a witch. Aggie leaves to go home shortly after. Marnie and Dylan secretly follow her and learn about their family, Halloweentown and they begin their training as witches.

Halloweentown II picks up where the first leaves off and I’m not going to spoil anymore of either because I highly recommend you go watch these Halloween classics for yourself.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I absolutely love Charlie Brown. If you read my end of the month wrap up posts you will have noticed I always include some type of Charlie Brown picture. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brownfrom 1966 is about Charlie’s best friend Linus spending the whole night of Halloween waiting for the magical Great Pumpkin to appear (basically the Santa Claus of Halloween) and when the Great Pumpkin doesn’t appear Linus is so disappointed but all of his friends make it better. Of course, while he was out waiting in the pumpkin patch Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang are out trick or treating.

This show is just so sweet and innocent. It’s absolutely perfect to watch with kids.

Lumpkin the Pumpkin

Lumpkin the Pumpkin is a short kid’s movie that was released in 1994. I had this on VHS and I’m not sure you can even find this anywhere BUT I did find the whole thing on Youtube. It’s about a little witch named Tara who’s mother is the head of the scariest witches but Tara doesn’t want to be scary. She only wants to be good. Her mother sends her to find a scary pumpkin and she finds Lumpkin, a sweet little pumpkin that couldn’t scare anyone. The two are a perfect pair and they realize that you don’t have to be scary, even on Halloween.

This movie is definitely geared toward small children but watching it is one of my fondest Halloween memories.

Casper the Friendly Ghost

I don’t have a particular favorite Casper the Friendly Ghost movie. I love them all. From the very old TV episodes to the newer movies. I did find one of the oldest, and one of my favorites, on Youtube. It’s called There’s Good Boos Tonight and it was made in 1948. In it Casper is looking for a friend and during his travels he sees a little fox named Ferdie be shot and killed. The fox comes back as a ghost and the two become friends. The 1995 Casper movie is also excellent.

Most of the Casper movies would be entertaining for any age and I still love watching them for Halloween.

I’m sure there’s more movies from my childhood that I’m forgetting about but these are the ones that I strongly remember and love. I also love/loved the Goosebumps TV series but that’s getting its own blog post. If we share any favorites, let me know! Also, tell me what your favorite shows and movies to watch in October are! Thanks for reading and have a great day!